


Love song for an immortal

by meteoropera



Category: Final Fantasy Type-0, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Crack Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:37:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1295122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteoropera/pseuds/meteoropera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The greatest enemy of humanity is humanity itself.” </p><p>He would tell his son of the ocean, the sky, classrooms where children wore drapes of velvets and gold, villages of sand and dwellers of the sky before he died for the ungrateful race of humanity. He took his memories of the high summoner and the secrets they shared to the grave.</p><p>But the soul does not forget and immortality is a cruel master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ace

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how I came out with this but the idea actually started off with my twin sister grumbling about her air con ledge falling off and how Rem is behind it.
> 
> And then my little sister came home and dragged me into the pits of a dark, deep, (un)holy abyss known as the Shingeki no kyojin fandom.
> 
> My husband jumped in and sealed the pit, making sure that I'll never leave the (un)holy abyss and somehow, after a round of seiyuu jokes, this crack fic was born.
> 
> Don't ask. Just don't ask. Really.

After the day's ruckus consisting of Nine's antiques at the fountain court and Cater's hysteria at the training arena, Sice's notorious rumored attempts of 'teaching people' a random lesson for just staring at her, Ace found that sleep came a bit too easily for him. It was rather eerie seeing that he had always relied on sleeping droughts to get him through the night.

 

But that night was different. The moment Ace's head hit the pillow, he quickly drifted off into slumber without a second's hesitation.

 

“ _But my children have lived for over a million years.”_ A voice called out to him in a dream. _“Over a million cycles have they experienced. I am very certain that in one those many cycles, they were but normal, mortal men who dreamed futile dreams, lived in a doomed world and died for a lost cause, another name on the grave marker.”_

 

Ace stirred uneasily in his sleep as the voice went on. “ _Who is to say that you weren't God in your last life?”_

 

“ _One of the flaws of the soul is that it is energy and energy cannot be destroyed. It can only be channeled. This is why the theory of reincarnation amongst human beings is a popular conspiracy subject. If human race can acknowledge with science that energy is never gone, why can't they apply it to the soul itself if they already have solid, scientific evidence of the supernatural?”_

 

In slumber, there was a young man and he was flying peacefully. His enemies were taller than him.

 

“ _The greatest enemy of humanity is humanity itself.”_

 

Suddenly, he was on par with his enemies. It was a strange sensation.

 

The young man felt himself shrinking like Alice through the looking glass. Whatever spell he had used to make himself taller, was probably wearing thin.

 

But the wonderland he saw in his dream was of ruins and misery. Corpses littered the sea of trees before him and a boy who was no older then his age, spoke of the ocean before life left him.


	2. Nicotine and sugar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sice is a vulgar little tinkerbell and Cater has a murderous streak in her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note to self - NEVER EVER write on notepad. I had to do lots of editing to the alignment and formatting -_-.....I suppose that's what I get for being very lazy when I was emoing at my new job. -.-.....
> 
> Also, my updates are really, REALLY slow because *points to the sentence above* new job and since I'm a dumbass, I take a longer time to learn new things.

Cater knew that the conspiracy theory behind her whole entire dorm window falling off, was a clever part on Rem Tokimiya getting back at her. The sneaky little housewife girl was too timid to get back at the gunslinger's face   
directly.  
  
Rem was going to pay.  
  
Machina was going to pay as well - for no apparent reason.  
  
Reasons were time wasters. There is no need for reason. Sice's hatred and Cater's hot headed taste for danger was all there was.  
  
Opening her COMM, Cater managed to establish a form of communication to No.6.

  
  
"Sice, I need your help."

  
  
The scythe wielder's response was immediate. "Can't. I'm in detention."

  
  
Cater groaned. "You just earned yourself detention because you want to stare at Kurasame!"

  
  
Sice licked her lips. Cater knew her like a well read book.

  
  
"I get off by doing that~" The scythe wielder happily replied. "But I'll come around to your room after I'm done. With cigarettes and hot chocolate. I know you want to talk to me."  
  


That was no.6, never missing a beat. Cater was upset and she needed her partner in crime.

  
  
"I got the hot chocolate here, without any milk and sugar, just the way you like it." Cater reached out for a ornate decorated tin where she kept her Sice   
entertainment kit in handy.

  
  
"I'll be there with the nicotine." Sice replied because cutting the convo off.

  
  
For now, there was nothing Cater could do but release her anger at the school field.

  
  
**xXx**  
  
  
  
Sice found her classmate at the school field, having bribed Quon into helping her hack into the training system so that her enemies would be clones of Rem Tokimiyas as opposed to the standard milites empire drones.

  
  
"How much did you pay Quon for this?" Sice leaned against the entrance of the school field, her scythe in hand.

  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know." Cater grabbed a bottle of water from her duffel bag at the bench. "That was good stress relief."

  
  
"What got you so worked up?" Sice dragged the blade of her weapon against the grass, cutting through earth and plant matter with it's blade as she walked.

  
  
"My window and my air con unit." Cater replied after pouring the rest of the water over her head. The gunslinger currently had her black blazer and black neck ribbon off for the training session. The heat in Suzaku wasn't that kind. Through the soaked material, Sice could see the younger girl's elaborate, lacy orange bra.

  
  
"And you are blaming this on the housewife." Sice chuckled. That was just like Cater."Got any proof? Not that I'm trying to defend her or anything."

  
  
But both of them knew that Cater wasn't the kind to sit back and dig for clues. Cater's rash actions always lead to one solid conclusion - someone must die.

  
  
And if the victim of her choice was innocent?

  
  
That poor son of a bitch would be left to contemplate on why lady luck failed on them that very night.

  
  
Sice dispersed her weapon into the depths of her mind and rubbed her gloved hands eagerly.

  
She had been waiting for this.

  
Reaching forward, Cater gathered her uniform and headed back to the dorm, teasing Sice with promises of nicotine and sugar. 

That was just how they rolled before Sice would go off for supper.

 

xXx

 

Machina breathed in a sigh of relief as he slid the stash of assignments into their shared class lockers. It was good to get the stack of assignments out of the way.

Slinging his black messenger bag over his shoulder, he began to make his way back to his room.

 

All around him, students filed in and out of various corners and rooms. Some were busy with their homework, the others were simply walking around, interacting with their friends or getting something to eat before lights out.

 

Machina couldn't help but allow a small smile to creep across his face as he watched an 11 year old cadet attempting to help a 6 year old with her mantle and

cap.

 

"I can't tie this knot properly!" The 6 year old whined in her squeaky voice.

 

"A reef knot is really easy to tie, trust me." The cadet explained patiently. "You'll be using these knots to set up camp, tie up bandages and not to mention,

your mantle."

 

The 6 year old sighed tiredly as she attempted to master the particular knot.

 

"How I wish I can be an instructor. They don't really need to tie mantles, do they?"

 

The cadet chuckled. "Hey, I bet they started out like us too and so they have to learn how to tie the dreaded knot as well. Now how about we call it a day here and we go and get something to eat?"

 

The 6 year old nodded enthusiastically. "That sounds like a great plan! I'm getting very, very hungry!"

 

Machina decided that he too, was getting rather hungry. Besides, he was just in time for supper.

 

Supper on that day seemingly appeared to be a bit more special than the usual. It was always like this. On random days at any given meal time, the chefs would whip up something a bit more better to whet the appetites of the students.

 

It was no brainer that the menu had been really bland lately and there were even a few people like Sice who would forgo food just because it wasn't to her liking, only to end up fainting. But the hands of the chef were tied. They were to make do with whatever ingredients the school board ordered for them.

 

Machina sat down at the counter and greeted by a beautiful viera, the wife of the head chef there. Her hume husband can be seen serving a red hot fruit punch to an all too familiar blonde haired, red mantled youth by the name of Quon at another corner.

 

Quon casted Machina a look and raised his glass up into the air slightly,beckoning for him to join his caffeine free tea time.

 

Machina nodded and ordered the hot supper meal set from the viera. The viera smiled and gave him a tray.

 

Picking his tray up, Machina walked over to a table Quon had picked out.

 

"Hey." Machina greeted the spellcaster. "What's up?"

 

Quon looked like he had been through hell and back. That could only result in Nine being a moron again (Quon and Nine never got along fine) or the fact that Quon was yet to partake in his daily caffeine.

 

But if there was one thing that fueled Nine and his intelligent rival, it would be caffeine.

 

"The school hasn't been offering any coffee or tea for a week." Quon stated. "I know that some people like Sice would go as far as to abuse her elixirs but I don't want to be that desperate. Besides, they're limiting the amount of elixirs purchased here in this damn school."

 

Machina sighed. "Headmaster's really trying too hard to 'control the teenagers' in this building. I swear, we're in prison."

 

Quon chuckled. "Well Kurasame isn't doing so well with this new rule. I think I heard Nine being trashed up in the detention room a while ago. You should count yourself lucky that you are not addicted to caffeine, Mach."

 

"I am addicted to sugar though." Machina sighed before looking at what was offered to him for supper. The tray held a cup of water, a bowl of steaming white rice and a small bowl of spicy vegetable curry - a favorite dish of the desert dwellers but the vegetables were from Concordia. A unique fusion dish.

 

Machina picked up his fork and spoon, gently tasting the curry. It was spicy. Or perhaps it was mild. Spicy food weren't really his specialty despite being born in Suzaku where food was generally spicy and strong tasting.

 

In fact, the dish seem to be more to Sice and Cater's liking.

 

At the thought of that, Sice danced (literally) into the room. Her tattered red mantle dancing in the unseen wind dramatically.

 

"Say...Mach," Quon took another sip of his red hot fruit punch. "Don't you think Sice needs to change her mantle? Who would wear rags like that?"

 

Machina chuckled as he speared a piece of cabbage with his fork. "Sice purposely got a seamstress to rip her mantle off like that. She said that it would look 'deadly' and some other fashion mambo jumbo I don't bother with. All I know is that Sice went to the same seamstress that Eight and Queen favored. She paid quite a high price to get her uniform sleeve chopped off as well so that it would resemble Seven's uniform."

 

Quon laughed. "So she's totally lesbian for Seven, eh?"

 

Machina shrugged as he drank up the last of his curry. "I guess you can say that again. Oh and she also got Ace to get her those new boots when he was on a trip to Concordia. That's how vain our number 6 is. She claims that she's not girly but if you ask me, she knows more about hair, make up, nails and cooking even though she repeatedly claims that she hates being in the kitchen or spending time in a mall or doing other girl things."

 

"Mhhhm. The tsundare." Quon finished up the last of his hot drink. "I think you and I will both agree that we like the gentle and intelligent kind of women."

 

Machina glanced at Sice. The silver haired woman had settled down in a corner, alone with a book in hand. Like the bona fide loner she was, Sice would always eat her meals alone or she would take it to her room or Cater's room.

 

Sometimes, she would eat with Cater or have a romantic dinner with Seven.

 

Today, the silver head was alone and she had a cranky expression on her face. No doubt, it was probably due to not being able to have her favorite tea and nothaving enough of Seven time.

 

Sitting not far from her was Aria, the class merchant who was happily engaging with an orange mantled young man from class four.

 

"I don't know about that." Machina shuddered. "She doesn't care if people like her or not. She has Seven. That's all it matters."

 

Quon leaned over the table, attempting to keep his voice as low as possible. "Recently, Sice has acquired a new target."

 

Machina's blood chilled.

 

From a corner of his eye, No. 6 smiled to the fork that held a twirl of spicy, creamy pasta.

 

His time was near.


	3. Patience & madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caetuna dreams of promises and a love song as she threads a needle, sewing, waiting. Meanwhile, Seven goes out on an errand with King and Ace to Corsi while Machina lets his fear haunt him.

Patience and madness were two wolves, fighting for dominance. Just like hatred and love.

 

“Which one would win the battle?” Caetuna asked herself as she threaded a needle with an elaborate red thread, made out of the finest silk available in the whole of oriense. “The one you feed most of course.”

 

Waiting was what Caetuna had been doing for centuries, with madness threatening to embrace her from the back. Her patience was wearing thin.

 

“I am the eagle who is flying over the walls.” Caetuna continued as she pushed the needle through the gold woven tapestry she was working on. “What will I find once the boundaries are gone?”

 

A painful cry of emotional distress.

It echoed the constant cry Caetuna had in her heart.

 

A smile spread through her lips before tears overwhelmed her heart, the grief and reality of the situation crashing down on her extremely hard.

She was never going home. The tear stained embroidery stared inanimately at her, offering her no form of comfort - just like the world outside.

 

**xXx**

 

Seven sighed in satisfaction as she indulged in her favourite sweet treat by the cafe. She was about to reach out for the last gingersnap cookie when Ace beat her to it. Childishly, no. 1 bit into the spicy, sugary treat. Seven sighed and looked at the younger boy before her. They were both in Corsi to run some weekly errands for their classmates. King was currently somewhere, no doubt trying to fetch some alcohol and nicotine for the punks back in class.

 

While waiting, Seven decided to indulge in Corsi's special gingersnap cookies and spiced tea with Ace by a tiny cafe.

 

She had just enough gil to purchase 4 huge cookies and two cups of steaming hot, spiced tea for the two of them. It wasn't as if the food in school was utterly repelling but the school board had decided to come out with a new menu that was meant to benefit their health.

 

In short, they would only have desserts once every two weeks and their daily meals would now be consumed without salt. Due to some budgeting issues from some financial crisis which took Oriense by storm, the school began to revamp the entire menu to cheaper ingredients and some of Seven's favourite food was totally taken off the list. Seven's initial thoughts was that she didn't really mind as long as it was food but after a month or two of being on bland diet, coupled with the students' frequent complaints, Seven was beginning to agree that her taste buds needed a break from infirmary standard food.

 

The first thing Seven did when she was chosen to go on an errand with King and Ace, was to hit the eatery. King had treated the two of them to a lovely, spiced pastry. Seven learned that it was one of Sice's favorite meal whenever she swung round Corsi.

 

Right after a quick (and satisfying meal), the three of them went off to pick up the items that their classmates wanted before the warm weather started railing on them. Seven decided that she would wait in the cafe with Ace while King completed last few items of their errands which included several illegal things that weren't allowed in the students' dorm.

 

In the peristylium of Suzaku, the students would always take off to run to town for errands after Saturday classes were over for the morning. Usually, the seniors would be the ones doing so before night classes (in preparation for college classes, no doubt) for they usually would have a long afternoon break and many of them would be looking for ways to kill time.

 

In Class zero, everyone would take turns doing the errands every Saturday and the person chosen for the errand would have to choose two people to accompany him or her.

 

This week, it was King's turn and King had chosen to go about on their errands in the evening, just before dinner started.

 

Most of the boys would usually choose at least one girl to accompany them if the errand list required the purchase of something intimate.

 

That was why King handpicked Seven for he had no idea what in the world Sice and the girls want every month. Ace was chosen for his matured factor. Normally Eight or Nine would accompany him but on that day itself, Nine had to serve detention and Eight had to train for a big underground tournament of some kind.

 

Ace was the next best bet.

 

Seven watched as Ace hungrily ate the cookie before finishing the last of his spiced tea.

 

He had been craving for sweets ever since the new menu came out.

 

"I have a pack of cookies in my room." Seven looked at the younger bespectacled boy.

 

"You must be good at hiding things." Ace looked up. "You know that they'll take it away if they raid your room on those random spot checks. No outside food allowed in school due to allergy reasons."

 

Seven chuckled. "Mhhhm. I'd like to see them try. I could always get Sice to take the cookies back for me."

 

Ace cringed. Sice was someone Ace would label as a fair weather friend. Sure, he could somewhat get along with the girl and the scythe wielder had never done anything against him (yet) and it was supposedly a good thing for it meant that he passed her judgment test. No. 6 could usually tell if someone was a likeable person or not with just a glance or a photograph of the person. It was a strange empathic ability that was considered her saving grace.

 

If it weren't for her strange gift, Ace was pretty sure that the school board would've thrown her back out into the wild or some homeless shelter.

 

But this was Sice. Sice would've probably riled the homeless shelter up with her reasoning and knowing her, she would probably raise an army with her new followers and strike back at Suzaku. Everyone in the peristylium knew that there was something going on under the table (or in Ace's words, under Sice's bed covers) between Sice, Seven and their instructor.

 

What Seven saw in Sice, Ace would never knew. He had no idea what was the relation between Kurasame and the two silver heads either but he knew that messing with either one of them would usually bring about a disastrous result.

 

"Ahaha..." Ace weakly laughed. "I guess so."

 

Seven raised an eyebrow, sensing Ace's uneasiness towards the topic.

 

"Sorry." Ace apologized. "But a bit bothered by something lately."

 

Seven leaned back against her seat, crossing her arms in a perfect imitation of her mother. "Rem's strange behavior or Sice's attitude?"

 

"Sice's attitude will forever haunt everyone in the peristylium, Seven." Ace said. "It's not about her attitude but more so on Rem's behaviour I suppose."

  
The blonde haired boy mentally released a sigh of relief. What bugged him wasn't exactly Sice or Rem per say. It was his strange dream that followed him to the waking hours of his life but Seven need not know that.

 

"She had been rather....skittish around everyone, even Deuce. I mean, she always goes out to have meals with Deuce. Lately, she had been going with this random Class 11 student. I never caught her name but it seems like even Machina is getting upset by Rem lately."

 

Tokimiya and Kunagiri being engaged was the talk of the Peristylium, next to Sice's rebellious behavior.

 

But Tokimiya pushing Kunagiri away was definitely something....new, if not, odd.

 

Tokimiya pushing her class zero member away and her fiancee away in favor of spending intimate time with a class 11 member was definitely strange.

 

"And you're telling me this because you feel that Sice has something to do with this." Seven concluded.

 

Ace shrugged. Sice was usually the reason behind strange things occurring in the school grounds when all other forms of logical explanation had failed.

 

It was an international understanding between the class zero members.

 

Seven sighed. "I suppose you want me to talk to her?"

 

Ace caught sight of King walking towards the cafe, with his backpack slung over his shoulder. "If you can. Machina's angsting is making me lose my beauty sleep."

 

The pair spoke no further as King made his way to their table, lugging a small, well concealed pack in his arm. Momentarily forgetting about his odd dream, Ace stood up, gathering the bags in his hands with Seven. The sun was starting to set, it was time to head back to the Peristylium.

 

**xXx**

 

Machina refused to cease running until he reached the safety of his room. The young man had no idea why in the world did he felt the urge to bolt every time he came face to face with the scythe wielder. It wasn't as if the the girl wanted to murder him or anything. He had a firm believe that there are no traitors in Class Zero. All of them had grown up together with the Mother. Everyone knew one another well. Sice wouldn't dream of killing him but that didn't mean she couldn't torture him for her own sick pleasure. 

 

Perhaps it was fear. Just fear. Paranoia was Machina's best friend. 

 

Machina would never know. It wasn't as if Machina was a stranger to Sice's weird fetishes. That strange girl was a complete nutcase and some said that it was the effect of lying around Death's doorsteps for a good couple of minutes before life was breathed back into her. 

 

Then, there was Caetuna.

Caetuna was freaky. Sure. But at least she wasn't out for his blood like how Sice had a habit of keeping an imaginary (or semi real and functioning) harem.

 

“I need to go and see mother very soon.” Machina panted as he sank against the locked door, completely oblivious to the fact that he looked like a complete mess with his hair sticking out in the wrong directions and his uniform being covered in his sweat. He was going to need a quick shower.

 

“I'm going crazy. I need to be medicated. Like Sice.” Shakily activating his COMM device, Machina rang Eight up.

 

“Wassup?” Eight's voice rang over the system in his ear.

 

“Tell everyone that I've already had a quick, light supper with Quon and I am not staying for desserts.” Machina said. “I'm not...so hungry and I'm going to bed early. Just tell Rem that.”

 

Eight laughed but it was an uneasy laugh. “Understandable.”

 

With that, both boys cut off their COMM devices.

 

Machina slowly began to undress for bed when a shriek resonated from Cater's room.

 

“Queen!??” Thankfully, Machina had only removed his red mantle and belt. Without a second thought, he dashed out of the room.

 

Right behind him was Nine and his mistress, Sice. Both of them were equally in a disheveled state with Sice wearing only a short, purple bathrobe and Nine without a shirt on. Obviously, the two had been indulging in some intense activities on the bed.

 

But that was the last thing on all their minds.

 

There was something in Cater's room and the Class president's screams didn't suggest that it was due to a roach or a rodent.


	4. Guns and roses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cater x Eight = no more and Sice is out for Eight's blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, my summaries suck and this fic took way longer then expected because I had no internet connection for a looooooooong time due to me having to move house in a strange new town. So here, have a product of my home sickness. 
> 
> This chapter is just short and meh. 
> 
> That and I had the crack! idea of Cater having an angsty relationship with Eight when me and my type-0 group were fooling around during a con and our Eight kept looking at this cute Cater cosplayer from afar. XD; (although we joked that he was actually secretly oogling at the Trey cosplayer beside Cater LMFAO!)

_"We need to talk. In private." Was all he said before things went south._

 

_Sice had to forgo her plans for a typical round of creating trouble with her BFF. If Eight wanted to have a word with Cater, he can do so for all she cared. Sice never liked to interrupt in quality couple time, not when their life expectancy on the battlefield was as short as the matchsticks in her collection. Unless it was Rem and Machina of course.  
_

 

_"In that case, I'm going to have dinner first. I'm really starving." Sice's stomach was making an odd yet terrifying growl._

 

_Knowing Sice's strange attachment to food, Cater nodded. "I'll just push this forward tomorrow then. Later, girl."_

 

_The very moment the scythe wielder disappeared from sight, Eight's posture took a 360 degree change. There was no hugs and Eight wasn't making direct eye contact with Cater, instead choosing to focus his gaze on Cater's well polished mary janes that was issued with the standard set of the peristylium's winter school uniform._

 

_Sure, they were dating and Cater liked to view them both as an item - a couple -  but it was Cater who had been the one to pop the question. Cater wondered if Eight was only dating her because he didn't want to see her hurt. Eight was no stranger to rejection and part and parcel of rejection was hurt. So here she was, standing by the courtyard at the back of their classroom, facing brown haired youth._

 

_This time, it was Eight who made the first move._

 

_"I don't think we should see each other anymore."_

 

_The words stung. Cater felt like she had just been shot by her own bullets. Eight reached out to place a gloved hand on her shoulder but the gunslinger girl moved two paces back._

 

_She didn't need his sympathy_

 

_She didn't know what to say or how to react. A part of her felt relieved that both of them didn't have to keep up playing the game of pretense but another part of her hurt._

 

_"No. I understand." Cater surprised herself as soon as the words left her lips. "I know that I'm not the right one for you."_

 

_Eight withdrew his hand. "This means that we're still good friends, right?"_

 

_Cater forced a smile. "Yeh."_

 

_"Good." Eight walked off. It was hard to judge what her classmate was feeling but Cater didn't care._

 

_As number 8 of Class Zero walked back to the classroom, Cater collapsed onto the bench nearby._

 

_She wasn't the right one for him._

 

_But she had no heart to tell him that he was the perfect one for her._

 

_Cater had witnessed a breakup before between Queen and King. The class president had morbidly described the feeling of mental pain as something akin to a physical wound that cannot be numbed with any amount of medications and magic._

 

_The gunner had a rough idea of such pain for her roommate constantly suffered from such illness._

 

_The kind of pain that can only be cured with Death._

 

_Cater's hand shook as she stared at the pistol in her hand._

 

**xXx**

 

Mother Arecia was a woman of intimidating stature. She was tall, busty and often well dressed in an array of silks and gold. As the right hand woman of King Khalia, Arecia Al Rashia had the luxury to forgo the uniform of the peristylium. Instead, she opted to be dressed in the exquisite, traditional clothing of the nation of Suzaku.

 

It was a no brainer that the woman has a love for fine, pretty things and the silk of the tropical nation held a long, lost air of the oriental people. Silk in Concordia was beautiful but it was not to Arecia's liking. No, the traditional silk of Suzaku was more brighter, more livelier and more _human._

 

Apart from silk and gold, the woman also took a liking to collecting perfumes and soap, a habit that one of her class 0 children had picked up on as well. But today, Arecia was not indulging in anything but her fine silk or gold. She was seated in the comfort of her office, sealed off from the rest of the world in the Akashic records.

 

“This can prove to be quite.........trying.” Arecia spoke to no one in particular. Lighting herself some tobacco, the woman began to indulge in some nicotine. “This _high summoner_ is really grating on my nerves.”

 

“What do you intent to do with her.” Asked the mist before her with a 'tone' that implicated the 'question' to be more of a demand. 

 

“Hm.” Arecia lit herself for another round of nicotine indulgence, a human habit she had found herself picking up on whenever her cortisol levels were on the verge of tiding over her mortal form. “Kill her.”

 

“That is cruel.” The mist replied.

 

“No, it is neither.” Arecia stood up, slinging her hand knitted shawls over her shoulders. “There are some things in this world that is so cruel that it is kindness in disguise.”

 

The mist dispersed. It was unable to comprehend the truth or logic in Arecia's ancient words.

 

Never the least, the woman continued on, knowing that the mist was everywhere in her realm and it was watching her and all who entered the archives.

 

“If she wants to be reunited with her loved ones so badly,” Arecia said. “I will grant her that honor. It is time someone released her from such a curse.”

 

The demi God held a rare look of sympathy. “Who can deny the human heart of intimacy or madness after centuries of watching the one you love, die before you?”

 

Jealousy never made it's way to her eyes. Time would not permit it for something, _someone_ was calling her and it was a cry of pain.

 

One of her children was conflicted with pain of some kind.

 

Without a second's hesitation, the demi god immediately disappeared from the divine plains.

 

Caetuna and her ongoing problems will just have to wait for now.

 

**xXx**

 

Cinque restrained the gunslinger tightly by the arms, kicking away the gun. It was futile, of course for the gun was programmed to return to Cater's hammerspace and Cater could summon it in her hands even if her hands were held back by the mace wielder.

 

Ace had dashed off to fetch their instructor and the rest of the class were trying extremely hard to calm the girl down.

 

All of them. With the exception of Eight.

 

The martial artist was no where to be seen.

 

Sice swore loudly. It was true that she had the temptation to rape the hell out of Machina just for the fun of it but no one, absolutely no one, messes with her BFFs.

 

“Fucking hell.” Sice turned around and headed for the door.

 

“The hell ya' goin'?!” Nine yelled over the commotion.

 

“Finding Eight. Bastard should know what's going on, duh.” Sice remarked.

 

“In a bathrobe.”

 

“I'll continue my quest naked if I have to.” Sice snapped.

 

A gunshot brought everyone to their senses for a minute. King put his revolvers away. “My apologies. But we need to calm down. We aren't benefiting Cater in any way if we cannot get a hold of ourselves.”

 

“Thank you, King.” At the commanding tone of their instructor's voice, the whole entire class (except for Cater), lined up. “I couldn't have worded it better myself.”

 

The icy blade of death swept his intimidating gaze on his class. Silence fell upon them.

 

“Fill me in on what happened, King.” Kurasame was relying on one of the oldest and most emotionally stable student in his class to relay a report to him.

 

“Yes, sir.” King began. “Cater was seen trying to attempt suicide.”

 

A hint of what could pass off as surprise crossed through Kurasame's deep, green eyes. “I see. Thank you, King.”

 

Sweeping out of the door, the instructor ordered for the rest of the class to be dismissed.

 

“Cater, follow me.” The teacher ordered. “Queen as well.”

 

It was Queen who responded on behalf of Cater as well. “Yes Sir.”

 

“The rest of you, back to your rooms and to bed, now.” Kurasame gestured for Emina to take over.

 

Emina nodded in silent gesture as she began the tedious chore of shepherding the children to their rooms and making sure that they would be in bed instead of spending the whole night, gossiping with their classmates.


	5. Sinners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, Levi finally makes an appearance. Le gasp. And yes, everything in this story WILL join up together..............soon. MWAHAHAA-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note to self: Stop writing when you are dead tired with a backache.

_It wasn't the first time the Major found herself in the same bed as the newly promoted Lance Corporal. Although their ranks were given to them out of seniority from the previous expedition in which the previous lance corporal and major had perished together._

 

_Ironically, they did not perish from a titan attack._

 

_No. They perished together in a raid by starving bandits from Drauper._

 

_Lance Corporal Levi had attempted to wash the scent of the previous occupants away from his new room but somewhere within the deep abyss of his obsessive mind, the young man felt that he could never rid the room entirely of the previous occupant's presence._

 

_Levi was no the kind to believe in ghosts._

 

_No. People only choose to believe in the supernatural and the other-world because they refused to believe that their loved ones are truly gone. So they would turn to the unseen. At least their loved ones would live on in the wind, the earth, the ocean – whatever and wherever that really was – and the stars that would watch them like a canopy of wallflowers at night._

 

_The first few nights, Levi would toss and turn in the antique poster bed._

 

_True, Lance Corporal wasn't really a rank as high as the Major and the Commander's rank but when you are bearing the wings of freedom, the Lance Corporal was usually someone who was worth a hundred men._

 

_A hundred wings._

 

_It was the only reason why he, like his predecessor, was afforded such luxury in the castle. Then again, every scout was afforded quite a luxurious room by military standards. They were all on a suicide mission and no one knew when they would perish._

 

_But everyone knew that the commander's room, the lance corporal's room and the major's room were the only rooms that had a larger desk and a poster bed. It was also the warmest room in winter._

 

_Despite that, Levi was plagued by insomnia until the spazztic scientist came over._

 

_Levi was half expecting the titan crazy woman to barge in (unannounced as per usual) and ramble to him about her children (what was their names again? Swanney? Bean? Chicaroni? Macaroni? Levi had lost track of it) and how they tried to eat Moblit again._

 

_But no._

 

_The woman showed up in his oversized dress shirt that he had let her keep (after that incident where he accidentally caused her to spill a corrosive substance in her lab. He had taken off his shirt and ordered her to ditch her dress shirt as soon as possible to avoid the acid touching her skin and thankfully, she was unmarred from the whole ordeal)._

 

_To top it all off, she was holding onto her pillow. The message was clear enough. The spazztic woman was going to sleep with him._

 

_It wasn't the first time they'd snuggled against each other in the same bed._

 

_And they sure as hell weren't the first scout who were that daring._

 

_“I had a dream that I was dying.” Levi spoke out of the blue._

 

_Hanji gave him a curious look._

 

_“I was trying to make it back to the wall but I...” Levi's back was still facing her. “I had a feeling that I was going to die. It was a peculiar feeling.”_

 

_Hanji reached out and traced her fingers along the man's back, feeling his muscles through the thin shirt he wore._

 

_“Maybe it's just this room or maybe it was just me being fucking nuts.” Levi tensed up again. “But that feeling followed me all the way in the waking world. Maybe it's an omen.”_

 

_But Hanji being Hanji, didn't object nor did she showed signs of accepting the fact that he was probably chased by the grim reaper._

 

_“Did I die in that dream too?” Hanji simply asked._

 

_“I can't say for sure.” Levi answered, surprised at her question. “Why?”_

 

_“No reason.” Hanji grinned. “If death claims you, I would probably expect heaven to be a cleaner place. So will you clean my room for me up there in heaven? Sure beats having a random angel to do it for me.”_

 

_Levi stuffed a pillow into the woman's face. “You'd wish. I'm going to hell remember?”_

 

_“Well then~” Hanji removed the pillow from her face calmly. “I'll be expecting a harem for us in hell.”_

 

_“Harems are fucking filthy.” Levi paused, looking at her in the eye. “What if I were to be a spirit in purgatory?”_

 

_“Then I will be the spirit next to you.” Hanji's replied without hesitation. “And if we were to be reborn, I will be right beside you, no matter what.”_

 

_“Tch, sappy asshole.”_

 

_“I am a woman you know~” Hanji curled up against the man's petite form. “And I promise you that we'll both annoy Erwin in our next life if that is the case.”_

 

_Levi chuckled and draped an arm around the Major's muscular form. “What if Erwin turned out to be fucking stupid in his next life eh.”_

 

_Hanji laughed. “You really are full of a shit in that seedy little head of yours, you know.”_

 

_“Thank you.”_

 

_Sleep was slowly claiming Levi's attention._

 

_Slowly, but surely, he drifted off against the woman's embrace._

 

**xXx**

 

Number 6 had made no move. In fact, her unpredictable behavior was making it tough for Machina to prepare a counterattack. In the battlefield, the instructors made used of Sice's and Nine's erratic behavior to launch sieges that would require towns to be conquered manually. Right after her dinner yesterday night, Sice had casually returned to her room with her ears plugged into her headphones, humming some kind of soothing tune. No doubt that said tune derived from some kind of violent music, the kind Nine and her would listen to.

 

The scythe wielder was acting extremely normal, as normal as a psychopath would. Then again, after what happened last night with Cater's sudden _suicidal_ outburst, no one could blame Sice or anyone else for that matter, for being a bit...disturbed. Cater was currently being removed from classes and had to undergo counseling while Eight was under observation and interrogation by the faculty. 

 

 _'Maybe I've just been really paranoid at Quon's joke.'_ Machina reasoned with himself as he shut his book and set his eyes to the fountain in front of him. _'Sice is NOT out to kill me.'_

 

He was currently lazing at the steps of the peristylium's front entrance.

 

It was currently too hot for lessons to carry on. The instructors had mainly given up on garnering the attention of even the most studious student in their classes and had opted to quietly let the students out an hour earlier to freshen up or grab a drink from the cafeteria. It was getting utterly stuffy indoors and as there was much more breeze outside, Machina found himself indulging in the pages of a novel.

 

"Man, it makes me wonder why the heck did the founders of Suzaku actually built the school to withstand winter when there is no winter at all in the middle of his tropical hell hole." Machina spared a glance as Eight sat right next to him.

 

The martial arts champion grinned as he stretched his gloved hands as far as he could towards the heavens as Machina fished around for a reply to Eight's speculation.

 

"The directors of the old were drunk?" Machina shrugged. "I don't know. But I suppose the uniforms served as an alternative wear for the colder seasons?"

 

"Either that or it was for some social political reasons about showing how well afforded and rich Khalice's dead old gang are?" Eight laughed at his own joke. "What are you reading?"

 

"Weakness in your eyes." Machina replied, not that Eight would bother, right?

 

"Wasn't that a romance novel penned by the high summoner Caetuna?" Eight crossed his legs, laughing at Machina's wide eyed reaction. "Hey, don't judge me. I might be all muscles but I do have a great love for the arts too."

 

"Don't judge -me- either!" Machina slumped over. "I borrowed it off Rem actually."

 

Eight nodded. "I borrowed a copy of it from the library once as well. Apparently the plot was about woman with an oath of chastity who fell for a man against her own will and line of duty."

 

Machina flailed slightly. "What!? I haven't gotten to that part yet!"

 

"Since I've already spoiled 90% of the plot for you, I might as well continue." Eight grinned mischievously, "The woman lead a happy double life with her husband. Eventually, she had a child with the man. However, they were both discovered."

 

"Eight, you asshol-"

 

"They were separated." Eight continued without missing a beat. "The woman was cursed as a L'cie and immortality was granted to her. The man and the child was thrown to an unspecified place far from the hands of the woman's reach. The end."

 

Machina slumped over. "..........That was.......kind of heartbreaking."

 

"What?" Eight nudged at Machina's ribs playfully. "That was the only thing you can come up with? I was wondering if the woman in that novel was Caetuna representing herself. Caetuna is as mysterious as time itself if you ask me and the way she looked at Ace and Nine is really freaky."

 

Machina pondered. As much as he would love to make a joke out of it, there was truth in Eight's words. Too much truth. The high summoner would sometimes roam the hallways of the peristylium and when she did so, it would be near Class 0's corner.

 

And no one could command her attention as much as No. 9 and No. 1.

 

"I don't think Nine is related to her, no?" Machina couldn't phantom how such an idiot could be related to a high ranking woman of noble birth.

 

"I think I should switch my major to psychology like Ace." Eight sighed. "Come on, you're an honor student."

 

"Well sorry," Machina spat out defensively. "I do not enjoy taking the time to see how the human mind tick when they're most likely to be dead before I can even take the time to know them."

 

The sound of shattering china caught everyone's attention in the front plaza.

 

The high summoner was not too far from the fountain court, emotionless eyes directed right towards Machina.

 

Was it something he said?

 

A chill went through Machina's body but he willed himself to maintain a calm front.

 

"Why......." The high summoner spoke, her speech slow and often laced with intricate poetry, incoherent to everyone but her. But what came out of her mouth was direct and clear as daylight itself. "Why...must you sound like him as well...?"


End file.
